July 30, 2011

Strawberry Galette

I'm not exactly sure when this happened but it is somehow the end of July. This month has been a tiring, activity-filled blur, which included watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) at the midnight showing. Nothing says I'm turning into an old bag like constantly yawning in line and hoping I don't fall asleep during the movie.

July is also the time of year where I grow another year older. I am trying my best not to let the mid-twenties crisis overwhelm me, but this year more than anything I can feel Adulthood approaching as friends around me are getting engaged and married. Cue the, "What am I doing with my life?" moment.

I then give myself the pep talk of how I'm still young, the world is my oyster, etc. And the truth is, there is still so much I want to do with my life before I "settle down," whatever that term means. For example, I've always wanted to spend some time in the French countryside to do some organic farming. And so I shall in two days time.

I will be WWOOF-ing it up in the Normandy region and I am really excited about this next adventure. I am quickly trying to finish this entry to achieve my self-imposed quota of one post per month before I dive back into packing, so here's an easy recipe for strawberry galette. I made this with strawberries I picked at the beginning of the month, which seems like ages ago as strawberry season has ended. This is great with a scoop of ice cream or a drizzle of melted dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Clean the strawberries, remove the stems and slice them lengthwise. Place the sliced strawberries into a bowl and sprinkle the sugar and cornstarch on top. Gently stir the strawberries until the sugar and cornstarch evenly cover the berries.

Roll out pie crust. Layer the berries overlapping each other inside the pie crust starting one inch from the edge. Fold the edge of the dough over the strawberries. Brush the dough with the beaten egg. Sprinkle all over with 1 teaspoon sugar. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and work it into the flour until they are blended and the mixture looks like cornmeal.

Put the mixture in a bowl and add the ice water; mix with your hands until you can form the dough into a ball, adding 1/2 tablespoon or more ice water if necessary. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Sprinkle a clean countertop with flour, put the dough on it, and sprinkle the top with flour. Use a rolling pin to roll with light pressure from the center out. If the dough is hard, let it rest for a few minutes. If the dough is sticky, add a little flour (if it continues to become sticky, and it's taking you more than a few minutes to roll it out, refrigerate or freeze again). Roll, adding flour and rotating and turning the dough as needed; use ragged edges of dough to repair any tears, adding a drop of water while you press the patch into place.

My brother said it was a lot of work but a great learning experience. Some farms had trails and part of his job was to maintain the trails. He also had to cut grass, rake, transporting things... he learned a lot of Japanese, though. Were you able to speak lots of French?